


Ever Forward

by JessBakesCakes



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Canon Compliant, Episode: s04e15 Inauguration: Over There, F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, Light Angst, Post-Canon, Santos Administration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 13:47:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28957410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JessBakesCakes/pseuds/JessBakesCakes
Summary: Four Inauguration Days for Josh and Donna.
Relationships: Josh Lyman/Donna Moss
Comments: 14
Kudos: 75





	Ever Forward

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya, friends. I put a call out on Tumblr for people to write inauguration fics for Josh/Donna after watching the inauguration on Wednesday. I wanted to read them all, but I also promised I'd write one of my own if I could get my act together. So I did. I hope you enjoy it! Feel free to follow me on tumblr, @jessbakescakes - I'd love to connect with fellow fandom people! Thank you for reading!

**January 20, 1999 | 1st Inauguration of President Josiah Bartlet**

The room is full of nervous energy as everyone waits for the motorcade to arrive. The fact that Josh gets to be anywhere near the motorcade, let alone ride in it, still hasn’t gotten old. He doesn’t suspect that it will anytime soon. Everyone's chatting with each other, not quite sure what to do with themselves, and he's had the same talk with almost everyone. _I can't believe it's finally here. Are you ready for this? We really did it._ He checks his watch again and scans the room for Donna. She’s nowhere to be found. She told him she’d catch up with him, but she hasn’t yet, and they’re about to leave for the ceremony any minute.

Sam stands next to Josh, bouncing a little on the balls of his feet. “Hey,” Sam says.

“How ya doing?” Josh asks, even though he already knows the answer.

“Oh, you know. I’m… okay.” Sam shrugs.

“You certainly don’t sound okay.”

“Well. As I’m okay as I can be, knowing my political career lives or dies with this speech.”

Josh claps a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “The speech is fantastic. You’ve got nothing to worry about. You and Toby did a great job.”

Sam nods. “Where’s Donna?”

“I have no idea,” Josh says. “She hasn’t made her way down here yet. I’m going to try to find her. Don’t let them leave without us.”

He wanders toward the West Wing - he’s still learning his way around, but thankfully the area they’ve been working out of is relatively easy to find. There’s almost no one there, but he hears thumps and bumps down the hall. He'd bet all the money in his bank account that Donna's gotten herself into some sort of jam.

“Donna!” Josh rounds the corner and peeks toward the area that she’s been temporarily stationed. No Donna. He walks down the hallway to the office that would be his in just a few short hours and sees Donna, sitting in his chair, opening his desk drawers and slamming them shut one by one. “Donna, what are you doing?”

Donna jumps, startled. “You scared the hell out of me,” she says, putting her hand to her chest and taking a deep breath.

She’s changed and done her hair since the last time he saw her. She’s wearing a simple black dress and her hair is curled - he’s never seen her with her hair curled. Josh knows it’s entirely inappropriate when he stares at her like this, but he can’t help it. He feels compelled to say something to her, to tell her that he’s noticed, and to tell her how beautiful she is, and how he loves her hair like that. But as he searches his brain for the right words, he doesn’t really know what to say, aside from the completely inarticulate  _ wow _ or something that will most certainly cross a line. So he doesn’t say anything at all, instead choosing to change the subject entirely. “Why are you going through my desk?”

She ignores his question. “Do you have crazy glue?”

  
Josh raises an eyebrow. “Why do you need crazy glue?”

“I broke my heel.” She holds up her shoe, and sure enough, the heel is separated from the shoe itself. 

“How did you manage to do that?”

“I have no idea, but I need to fix it,” she says. “I had crazy glue in my emergency sewing kit that I usually keep when we travel but I can’t find it.”

“You always have crazy glue? Hang on, better question. You have an emergency sewing kit?”

Donna nods. “It has stuff like needles, thread, safety pins, clear nail polish… remember in Seattle when I fixed your button?”

_ It was day six of a seven-day long trip hitting several states on the west coast. Between an unfortunate mustard mishap and some lost luggage, he was down to his last suit. Donna managed to find a dry cleaner that could take care of the mustard-suit before they left the city, but she wouldn’t be able to get it for another hour, which would be after the event started.  _

_ Almost as if the fashion gods had conspired against him, the button on Josh’s pants came loose later that day. He tried to strategically cover the button situation with his belt, but it was hopeless. Without a second thought, he called Donna to his room, realizing as she stood there and stared at his belt how awkward this was. It took some convincing, but she managed to talk him into taking off the pants so she could reattach the button. Josh stood in the hotel bathroom in his underwear, pacing back and forth and checking his watch. _

_ “We leave in fifteen minutes,” Josh said, leaning on the bathroom counter. _

_ “I know, Joshua.” _

_ “What’s taking so long?” _

_ “I have to find the right thread. Keep your pants on. Oh, wait.”  _

_ He could hear her giggling on the other side of the door. She was usually much calmer about these sorts of last-minute emergencies than he was - it was part of the reason he was glad to have her as his assistant - but it was almost cruel how nonplussed she was about this.  _

_ It didn’t take long before she gently knocked on the door and he snaked his hand out, accepting the pants just in time to get dressed and leave for the event. _

He does remember. It was one of the first times he trusted her with something so... intimate. He's been doing that a lot more lately. She doesn't seem to mind, so every now and then he'll let her in just a little more. 

“Well, some of your stuff from the campaign is in these boxes here,” Josh says, motioning toward the corner of his office. 

Donna rushes over, grabbing a box from the top of the stack. She starts rummaging through it. “Did you ever get pants with the little fastener thing? The hook?”

“Do you really think I’ve had time to go shopping since then?” he asks. Josh approaches the stack and begins to look through the contents of the second box. “What’s this thing look like?”

“Clear, with black handles and a zipper around the side.”

As they continue their search, they hear footsteps running down the hall. Sam passes the office door, then runs back, gasping for air and leaning on the doorframe. “We’re leaving,” he manages to pant, doubled over.

“Just wear your regular shoes, the ones you wore this morning,” Josh suggests, standing up and shaking the box in his hand around one last time.

“They don’t match,” Donna protests.

“No one will notice.” Josh starts to put down the box, but out of the corner of his eye, he sees what he assumes is Donna’s emergency sewing kit. He yanks it out from underneath a few folders and reaches out, attempting to hand it to Donna. “Wait, is this it?”

Donna’s eyes grow wide. “Thank god. Okay.” She grabs her coat. “Hold that for one sec?” She walks over to Josh, putting her hand on his shoulder as she lifts one foot at a time, slipping a heel on each of them.

“We have to go,” Sam says, finally standing.

“We’re going,” Josh promises, exiting his office with Donna and Sam following closely behind.

They make it to the motorcade and slide in the car with Sam, who's still trying to catch his breath. Donna hands Josh her broken shoe. She unzips the bag and pulls out the glue, opening it up. “Can you help me glue it?”

“You can’t glue your shoe together?”

“I can put glue on it, yes, but I don’t have the upper body strength, or the grip strength, or whatever, to press it together while it dries,” she says, placing the glue on the shoe.

  
“Didn’t you grow up in Wisconsin?”

“What does that have to do with anything?” She caps the glue and puts it back in her emergency kit.

“How is your grip strength so bad? Didn’t you like, milk cows and stuff on the farm?”

“I lived in a condo, Josh. For someone who's traveled all across the United States, you have a strange picture of what goes on in Wisconsin, specifically. It's going to dry, don't let it dry.”

Josh rolls his eyes and holds Donna’s broken heel against the shoe, using a fair amount of pressure to hold the pieces together. After a few minutes of this, he pulls on the heel, trying to ensure that it can support her weight when she puts it on. After some pulling and inspecting, he hands her the shoe.

“Is that going to stay together?” Sam asks.

“I hope so,” Donna says as the car slows to a stop.

Sam steps out of the car first, followed by Josh, who holds out his hand to help Donna. She takes his hand and steps out of the car slowly before breathing a sigh of relief when both feet are on the ground and her heel doesn’t budge.

He notices that she slips her arm in his as they walk, allowing him to escort her to their seats.

  
  


**January 20, 2003 | 2nd Inauguration of President Josiah Bartlet**

Donna sits on her couch, ignoring the phone as it rings yet again. She stares at her shoe, which has slipped off of her heel but is still covering her big toe. She flexes her foot and releases, letting the back of her shoe clap back against the arch of her foot and her heel. Things were so different four years ago. They were all so full of hope, so much less jaded. But they’ve been through a lot in four years that has made them all more guarded.

Hard not to be, considering the literal blood, sweat, and tears they’ve put into this job since then.

It feels strange, on inauguration day, to be so focused on what’s happened in the past. She’s always put some extra pressure on inauguration day - it feels more momentous, like a fresh start. Almost like New Year’s Day, but… different. She should be looking ahead, focusing on  _ what’s next _ , as they always do.

She has half a mind to take off her gown and change into her pajamas. Donna knows she doesn’t need to be at the balls anyway, considering what’s transpired over the past 72 hours or so. It didn’t feel right to her, and she’s almost certain no one wants to see her there. Josh has tried to convince her otherwise, but she knows he’s trying to make her feel better for whatever reason. If this were anyone else, she knows he’d tell their boss to tell them to stay home. 

So why is he shouting her name from the street?

He’s making this so much more difficult than it needs to be. She ignores him, hoping he’ll just go away. There’s a chance he’ll hang out by the door until someone lets him in, but it’s getting later, and he’ll give up eventually. 

Suddenly, she hears a  _ thud _ against her bedroom window. Then another, and another, until it’s nonstop. She kicks off her heels and runs to the bedroom, opening the window and barely avoiding a snowball that sails through it. The snowball instantly begins to melt on her carpet, but she quickly abandons it in favor of getting Josh to stop making a scene.

She puts on her heels and runs downstairs, ready to tell him to leave, but then he gives her his jacket and tells her she looks amazing, and she’s putty in his hands. 

It’s not until she’s sitting on his lap in the cab that she realizes she didn’t even bring her keys or her phone. 

They exit the cab and Josh pulls the tickets to the first ball out of his jacket pocket. “I grabbed these from your desk,” he says, handing one to her. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“How long did it take you to find them?” she asks.

“About thirty seconds,” he says, grinning.

“This is why you need to let me organize your desk. Shouldn’t have taken you that long, though, they were just in the top drawer.”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t look through your desk. Much.” 

Once they enter the ball they tuck themselves in the corner of the room, each with a glass of champagne in their hand, standing close together. He’s got his hand on the small of her back, leaning in to listen to her talk. She says something that makes him laugh, and her heart beats a little faster when he looks back at her, grinning.

Donna notices at this point that his tie is crooked. She sighs and reaches forward, undoing it and taking it off entirely before attempting to re-tie it. She turns up his collar.  “Who tied your tie?” she asks.

“Sam showed me how, I tied it myself,” Josh answers.

“Why didn’t you just use the clip-on tie?”

“Because I want to…”

“Yeah, yeah, Tony Bennett. You’ve mentioned it.” 

“I’m really glad you decided to come,” he says.

She puts her hand on his chest before she pulls away from him, feeling his heartbeat for just a split second. “I am, too.”

“I missed you earlier. It was weird being at an inauguration without you. Especially with all the work that we did to get there.”

Donna sighs. “I couldn’t face anyone.”

“Look, I know you liked this guy, for reasons beyond my comprehension, but was he really worth all of that? Because from my point of view, he was stunningly unimpressive.”

“You think everyone I date is stunningly unimpressive,” she retorts.

“I do think that, and it's because they are. But that’s not the point I’m trying to make here. Donna, you’re smart and you’re great at what you do. You could easily end up being the one being sworn in someday instead of the one watching the swearing-in,” he says.

Donna laughs. “Josh, I don’t want to be President.”

“Other people get sworn in, Donnatella. Congress, senate, hell, governors, mayors. I’m pretty sure even school board members have some oath they take. My point is, this guy wasn’t worth your career. He wasn’t worth you jeopardizing…  _ this _ .” He gestures around the room. “Why’d you do it? Seriously?”

“I cover for you all the time, why was this any different?”

“Donna, I would never ask you to cover for me for something like this. Ever. Seriously, is this guy that great in bed?”

“Josh,” Donna says, rolling her eyes. 

“You’re right, he’s a Republican. There's no way he's any good in bed.”

“A person’s political affiliation has nothing to do with how they are in bed,” Donna sighs, downing the rest of her champagne.

“Have you ever even gone on a date with a Democrat?” Josh asks.

“Have _you_ ever even gone on a date with a Republican?” Donna counters.

“Of course not,” Josh says, offended. “I could never. That’s, as women like to say, a dealbreaker. I have standards.”

Donna sighs. “I do, too, Josh. I know you don’t like the guys I date, and that’s fine. But I do have standards, believe it or not.”

Josh doesn’t say another word about it until they’re leaving the building in the early hours of the morning after an unexpected return to the office. She’s wrapped up in his coat, walking down the sidewalk next to him, and he suddenly stops and puts his hand on her arm. “You know, I meant what I said earlier.”

“About what?” she asks.

“About your career. Seriously, I don’t care if it’s Madison City Council. I’ll come to watch you get sworn in.”

She looks down at the ground and then back at him. “Seriously?”

“Of course.” 

She grins. They continue down the sidewalk without another word.

  
  


**January 20, 2007 | 1st Inauguration of President Matthew Santos**

Josh barely slept. He’s tossed and turned almost all night, despite taking an over the counter sleeping pill sometime just after midnight. He turns the clock to face him. It’s 6:02. He doesn’t have to get up for a little while yet, but it almost feels pointless staying in bed. Just when he’s about to force himself to get up, he feels Donna’s hand on his back and shoulders. He turns over to face her. They’ve been doing this for a little while now, but there are some mornings he’s still surprised to see her in his bed. She looks just as awake and alert as he is.

“Hey,” he says, softly.

“Hi.”

“I didn’t wake you, did I? I think I’ve been kind of restless.”

She doesn’t answer his question, at least not directly. “Could have helped you out with that if you’d have woken me up.”

He raises his eyebrows, grinning. “You were pretty tired after last night, I figured I’d let you sleep.”

“Sleep’s for the weak,” she says, leaning forward and giving him a kiss. “At least, that’s what you’ve been telling me for years now. I still don’t know if I buy it, but I could be convinced.”

Mornings like this are his favorite. Mornings where they’re nearly late because they can’t keep their hands off each other, or mornings where they hit the snooze button just to be close to each other for a few more minutes. This morning is the former, as they both seem to need an outlet for the nervous excitement they’re feeling. 

They finally pull themselves out of bed about an hour later, heading toward the bathroom to get ready. Josh starts the shower and Donna brushes her teeth as she sticks her hand in the water periodically, checking to see if it’s warm enough to get in. “Too cold,” she says, still brushing as she talks.

“You’re the one who seduced me,” Josh teases. “We could have just tried to sleep instead, but I recall you giving me a line about how sleep is for the weak.”

Donna puts her toothbrush away. “Funny, that doesn’t sound like something I’d say. Sounds more like you.” 

“Or we could say that we’re rubbing off on each other just a little,” Josh says, moving her hair to one side as he presses a kiss to her neck. “I wouldn’t mind if that happened.”

“Focus,” she says, breaking away from him and pulling the shower curtain back. “We can’t get distracted again this morning.”

“Easy for you to say,” he murmurs, following her into the shower.

They manage to finish getting ready on time, despite Josh’s inability to stay on task. It hits him in the motorcade on the way over when she slips her hand in his that they’re really doing this. This, meaning the inauguration, but there’s an added bonus of this, meaning Donna being there beside him, personally and professionally. 

“How does it feel to have hand-picked the next President of the United States?” Donna asks.

Josh pauses, giving that question some thought. He’s never really thought about it like that. He knows it’s true, he did have a pretty key role in getting Matt Santos elected. But he can’t help but wonder about all the things that could have gone wrong along the way, despite Donna’s urging to let it go and focus on what lies ahead. “Surreal,” he finally answers.

Donna brushes some lint off the arm of Josh’s coat. “Yeah?”

“It’ll sink in this afternoon, I’m sure,” he says. 

“Well, you are a very powerful man, Josh, I’m surprised it hasn’t already sunk in.”

He’s always liked it when she called him powerful. It used to be with a teasing, playful, flirty tone but now it’s just this side of sincere, almost meant to boost his already oversized ego. Not that he was complaining. When she calls him powerful, he feels like she could ask him to do anything for her, and he would. Josh wonders if Donna realizes how powerful  _ she _ is.

“And you’re about to be an incredibly powerful woman, in an official capacity that is. You ready?”

“Yeah. I am,” Donna answers confidently, smiling. “Are you?”

Josh nods. “Ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”

He can’t help but miss Leo at this moment. Leo was always so confident, so certain that the decisions he was making were the right ones. Josh knows that the President-elect is a hard sell; he doesn’t like being told what to do. Leo had some experience with that. Josh also knows that they’re surrounded by incredibly capable people who can help him make the tough calls, and he has every confidence that they’ll make it work. There’s just something about this day that feels… empty.

He’s been thinking about that a lot lately. Leo’s been an important figure in his life for a long time, and it feels strange to not be able to call him up, to share things with him, to pick his brain. Josh has been here before, in this mostly-okay, sometimes-very-much-not phase of grief so overwhelming it hurts. But he’s never had someone to help him through it before.

It’s almost like Donna can read his mind. She interrupts his train of thought by rubbing her thumb across the back of his hand. “Leo would be so proud of you,” Donna says. “But he wouldn’t want you to compare yourself to him. Don’t fall into that trap. You’re two different people, serving two very different Presidents. Do things your own way.”

“How did you…”

“I’ve been thinking about him, too. If I’m thinking about him, I know you’re definitely thinking about him. And I know if he were here, he would want you to hear what I just said.”

Josh nods. He doesn’t know how to respond to that, but he knows she’s right. Donna’s always been great at saying what he needs to hear, but with this new relationship, it’s like she doesn’t have to water it down or carefully choose her words. She’s able to say exactly what she means. Josh is getting better about that himself, though it’s taken a little bit of practice. It just came more naturally to Donna. She’s been patient with him as he learns, more patient than he really deserves. 

“Thank you,” Josh says. “I needed to hear that.”

“So now, I’m going to ask for the Josh Lyman answer I know you have in you. You ready?”

Josh smiles. “Let’s do it.”

  
  


**January 20, 2011 | 2nd Inauguration of President Matthew Santos**

  
Donna unplugs her curling iron and sets it on the counter, checking the time on her phone. She’s not running behind, surprisingly enough. This is the first inauguration day of the three she’s been lucky enough to be a small part of where she hasn’t either been running late (even for a good reason) or experienced some sort of strange crisis. It’s almost going too smoothly. Her natural state of inaugural anticipation feels like too much today.

The front door opens and shuts. “DONNA!”

She smiles to herself. She used to hear Josh shout her name upwards of a dozen times a day some days, but those days are now few and far between now. They work on opposite ends of the White House, and even if they worked in closer proximity to each other, he knows that’s not how to get the First Lady’s Chief of Staff to do anything. But she misses it, just a little. Donna would never tell him that though. She turns off the bathroom light and heads toward the living room.

“Hey,” she says. She gives him a quick kiss. “Have you seen my shoes?”

“You look incredible,” Josh says, ignoring her question.

Donna sighs. “The proportions are all off.” She sits down on the couch. “You know what, my shoes are by the door, would you grab them for me?”

“The… proportions are off?” Josh puts the shoes on the floor so she can slip her feet into them.

“I don’t know the specific term for it,” Donna says, smoothing the fabric of the dress over her stomach. “It just looks... weird.” 

“It doesn’t look weird at all, I don’t know what you’re worried about. You look great.”

“Did Caroline do okay?”

Josh nods. “Oh, yeah. I was almost offended at how easy it was to hand her off, but I’d much rather have that than a meltdown to deal with.”

“It went that smoothly, huh? That’s unusual.”

“All Zoey had to do was offer her a cookie and she forgot all about me,” Josh laughs. 

“Girl after my own heart,” Donna says. “I do wonder if maybe we should expand that ‘stranger danger’ lesson to include cookies, though.” 

“Donna, she’s two and a half. And she’s surrounded by secret service agents at all times.”

“You can’t be too careful. And she won’t have a secret service detail for forever.”

He holds out her coat and helps her put it on. “You worry too much. I never thought I’d be the one saying that, and yet. Here we are.”

Josh is right. Donna’s been thinking a lot about the future lately. It’s what they’ve always done, so part of her can’t help it. They’ve always looked ahead, whether it be to midterms, to the next election, or to whatever political milestone is approaching most quickly. But there’s something about planning for the next four years that feels... daunting. 

Their first term in office was a whirlwind. Being Chief of Staff to the First Lady has been such an amazing opportunity, one Donna was shocked she was able to continue with after Caroline was born. The First Lady did some traveling, yes, but she was firm on keeping any trips to a one-week period in the month. She insisted that Donna benefit from these same rules, and was incredibly gracious and flexible in allowing Caroline to come to work with Donna whenever necessary.  _ I can’t fight to make things easier on working parents when I don’t extend the same courtesy to the people who work on my staff, _ she’d said. 

Donna almost quit when they found out they were having another baby. Josh talked about it in a hypothetical way, hinting that he’d do it if she asked him to. Neither of them could even draft a resignation letter, though, because they both knew they’d manage, just like they always did. This second pregnancy surprised both of them, but Donna was the one who was a little more outwardly apprehensive this time. 

Josh talks on the way to the ceremony, seemingly just to hear the sound of his own voice. Donna occasionally offers a short reply, but she’s lost in her own thoughts. It’s when they arrive at their seats that he gets pensive. “That’s gonna be our kid up there someday,” Josh says, leaning toward Donna. “Getting sworn in as President.”

“What if she doesn’t have any interest in a career in politics?”

“She’ll soon have a younger, more impressionable sister we can convince.” Josh puts his hand on Donna’s belly.

Donna puts her hand on top of his. “What if she's not interested, either?”

“Then they’ll both be exiled from the family,” Josh deadpans. “Dishonor on you, dishonor on your cow.”

“ _ Mulan _ references? Wow, you have indeed gone soft.”

“We spent Christmas with your family after a year of campaigning for re-election, then turned around and prepped for the inauguration,” Josh says. “You get what you get. In this case, it’s  _ Mulan  _ references.”

“I think you and Caroline watched it three or four times that one day.”

“Gotta earn those cool dad points somehow.” He turns to look at her, tucking a hair behind her ear. “You okay? You’ve been quiet today.”

Donna shifts in her seat. “Just thinking. It feels weird that we don’t get to do this again in four years.”

“Well, it was never guaranteed to begin with. Even if there was the opportunity to, it wasn’t a lock.”

“It feels more final this time, I guess,” she says. “Do you remember what you said at that inauguration ball for President Bartlet?”

Josh nods. “About you being sworn in? Of course.”

“I don’t think I want this to be the last time we’re here, doing this.”

“Doesn’t have to be unless you want it to be.”

“I know you said you’re done, and that’s totally fine,” Donna continues. “I just don’t know that I am.”

“Okay,” he says, giving her hand a squeeze.

“Are you sure?” Donna asks.

“Of course I’m sure,” Josh insists. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know what I want to do yet, though.”

“Well, you’ve got four years to think about it,” Josh says as the ceremony begins. “Whatever you decide, I’ll support you one hundred percent. But you don’t have to make a decision right now. Let’s just… I can’t believe I’m saying this… see what the next four years are like.”

Donna smiles. She looks at Josh, who’s completely engrossed in the inauguration ceremony. He’s a little more relaxed than he was four years ago at this time, but she can see the anticipation on his face, and she can practically see the wheels turning in his brain. For someone who's acting so visibly calm and collected, she knows he’s feeling a little of this anxiety too. She feels a little guilty letting her mind wander, especially after all the work they did to earn this second inauguration ceremony. 

But now that she can breathe a little, she can’t help but daydream about what’s next.


End file.
